SERM. But that you would all for the future be revenged of your LXV. sins for the miseries they brought upon your Saviour, [Gal. 5.24.] and serve them as they served Him, even "crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts," and give up yourselves to Him, who gave Himself for you on purpose that He [Tit. 2. 14.] might "redeem you from all iniquity, and purify you to Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." That this may be the happy effect of your meeting together upon this sad and solemn occasion, give me leave to conclude with this brief exhortation to you. "Him whom we Men, brethren, and fathers, We have this day been looking upon have pierced," and I hope, " mourning for Him;" we have considered how much the Eternal Son of God hath suffered in our natures, that we might not suffer in our own persons unto all eternity: how He became not only a man, but [Isa. 53.3.]" a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief," destitute, afflicted, tormented, crucified, and all to satisfy God's justice for our sins, and to purchase for us all things necessary to make us happy. Now therefore that you have heard so much of what the Son of God hath suffered for your sakes, you cannot surely but look upon yourselves as highly obliged to do all you can for His sake. 24.] In His Name therefore, and for His sake, I beseech you all, "by His agony and bloody sweat, by His Cross and Passion, by His death and burial," that you would dote no longer upon the toys and trifles of this lower world, but love, honour and prefer Him your Saviour before all things [Matt. 16. in it. For His sake I beseech you to "deny yourselves, take up your cross, and follow Him," avoiding whatsoever you know to be forbidden, and doing whatsoever is com[Matt. 5. manded by Him. For His sake I beseech you, "Let your 16.] light so shine before men, that others may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven." For His sake I beseech you to be constant in your devotions to God, steadfast in the profession of your faith, and zealous for that religion which He hath prescribed and settled amongst you. For His sake I beseech you to be sober and temperate in the use of His creatures, free and liberal in your contributions to His poor members, just and right eous in all your dealings; in short, I beseech you all, for Christ Jesus's sake, to live continually in the true faith and fear of Almighty God, in humble obedience to the king and to all that are put in authority under him, in brotherly love and charity to one another; and when you have done all, put your full trust and confidence in Him, and Him alone, both for the pardon of your sins, and for the acceptance of your persons and performances before God. Do but all this for His sake, and then I dare assure you, you will soon find the fruit and efficacy of His death and passion for you; for then He will be your Advocate in Heaven, and plead your cause before His Father; He will take care that your sins be all pardoned, and your obligations to punishment cancelled and made void; He will supply you continually with the influences of His Holy Spirit, and with all things necessary both for life and godliness; He will carry you through all the "changes and chances of this mortal life," so as to make them all conspire and work together for your good; He will defend you against all the attempts and contrivances both of men and devils, so that the gates of Hell itself shall never be able to prevail against you; and at last He will take you to Himself, to live with Him, to be Kings and Priests, and glorified Saints in Heaven; when all your mourning for Him shall be turned into praises and adorations of Him, and you will spend eternity itself in doing that which I humbly desire you all to join with me in doing at this time, even in praising and magnifying the Eternal God our Saviour, of Whom we have been now speaking in the words of the holy Evangelist. "Unto Him that loved, and hath washed us from our sins [Rev. 1. 5, in His Own blood, and hath made us Kings and Priests to 6.] God and the Father, to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever." Amen. SERMON LXVI. A GOOD FRIDAY SERMON. SERM. JOHN xix. 30. And He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost. WHENSOEVER we commemorate the death of Christ, as we do this day, we ought at the same time to remember also the sins that caused it. And not only the sins of mankind in general, but ours likewise in particular; the sins which we all know, every one himself, to have been guilty of, and the condition they have brought us all into; for till this be done, we can never be duly affected as we ought with the consideration of what the Son of God hath suffered for us. For this purpose therefore, let us first look back a little upon our former lives, and take a short review of what we have and what we have not done; what duties we have neglected; and what vices and wickedness we have committed since we came into the world. And if we do this with a single and impartial eye, we may easily perceive that our whole lives have been but as one continued sin against Him in Whom we live; and all our thoughts, words and actions, a plain contradiction to those holy, and wise, and righteous laws, which He that made us hath set before us; we contracted that guilt by coming through the loins of our sinful parents, for which we might justly have been condemned to everlasting darkness, before we had ever seen the light of the sun. And yet, as if that had not been enough, as we were born, so we have lived all along in sin. Our childhood and youth, at best, were spent in ignorance and vanity. And since we came to riper years, how little good, how much evil have we done! what place, what company, or what condition were we ever in, wherein we carried ourselves so wisely and religiously as we ought? What spiritual duty, or civil employment did we ever set about, but we failed some way or other in the performance of it? Which of us have answered the end of our creation? We were all created to serve and honour our Creator; which of us have done it as we ought? But instead of that, how have we all broken His laws, abused His mercies, slighted His judgments, mistrusted His promises, despised His threatenings, and so dishonoured His sacred and most glorious Name, through the whole course of our lives. I need not descend to particulars; you cannot but all know, every one the plague of his own heart, and the several miscarriages of his own life, which, in the best of us, are so many and great, that the remembrance of them must needs be grievous to us, and the burden so intolerable, that it is a wonder that we are able to bear it, as considering whom we have offended, and what we have deserved by them. By our sins we have offended the Almighty Creator and Governor of the world; for His Law being like Himself, pure, and holy, and perfect, every transgression of it is not only an affront to His majesty, but a repugnancy to His very nature, and therefore must needs be very offensive and displeasing to Him. Hence it is, that He hath expressed so much anger against all sinners, such as we have all been. Which, if duly considered, is of itself sufficient to make our hearts even sink within us; that He that made and maintains us, should be angry with us; that wisdom, glory, power, justice, yea, goodness, and love, and mercy itself, should be displeased at us; who can think of it without horror and amazement? Especially if we consider withal, the sad effects of this Divine displeasure and vengeance, which we have deserved, and may justly expect to be executed upon us. Shame, and pain, and grief, and poverty, and sickness, and temporal death, these are the least, and but the beginnings of them; for over and above these, we are liable every moment to be cast down headlong into the bottomless pit of Hell, "where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not Mark 9. 44. LXVI. SERM. quenched;" that is, where men's consciences are perpetually gnawed and tormented with the remembrance of their former sins and follies, and the fire of God's wrath is always burning in their breasts, never to be quenched or abated. This we have all deserved a thousand times over by our sins, and therefore cannot but look upon ourselves, at this time, as so many guilty malefactors here assembled before the Judge of Heaven and earth, who may justly condemn us when He pleaseth to these our deserved torments; we lie perfectly at His mercy and yet we have no ground in the world to hope for any at His righteous hands, unless there be some way or other found out, whereby His wrath may be appeased, and His justice satisfied for the dishonour we have done Him by the sins that we have committed against Him. This therefore is the work, the great work which the Son of God Himself undertook, and as upon this day accomplished for us, when, as it is here said, "He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost." Which that we may rightly understand, we shall consider three things. I. Who the Person here spoken of was, who thus undertook to make atonement and satisfaction for our sins. II. What He did for the accomplishment of it, "He gave up the ghost." III. How we come to be so far interested in what He then did, as to obtain pardon and Salvation by it. First, as to the Person, He is here called JESUS, that is, a Saviour, which name was given Him before He was conMatt. 1. 21. ceived in the womb, upon this very account, because "He was to save His people from their sins." But to know what kind of Person this was, and is, so as to frame a right idea of Him in our minds, we must take notice of three things especially in Him, which if we consult the Oracles of God without prejudice, we may easily find to be so peculiar to Him, that they all three never did, nor can meet together in any other person in the world, but only in Him. 1. That He was the Only-begotten Son of God, begotten from eternity, of the Essence or Substance of the Father, and therefore of the same Essence or Substance with Him; the Second Person in the most Blessed Trinity; really and truly God, coequal, consubstantial, coeternal with the |